By Kevin Wilson The Portales Rams took away a 59-48 loss and a valuable lesson about District 4-3A Saturday night: stopping Jawaan Payne and stopping his Lovington squad are not one and the same. “You tell someone you hold Jawaan Payne to six points and you’re not in the game,” Portales coach Mark Gallegos said, […]

By Kevin Wilson Tuesday was Daniel Aranda’s 16th birthday, and the Ram guard made sure his teammates would be celebrating the night as well. Aranda hit a 3-pointer that sparked a pivotal 11-0 run to close out the third quarter, turning a close game into a blowout, and host Portales went on to a 46-28 […]

By Dave Wagner CLOVIS — Despite the difference in records, Clovis High’s boys weren’t about to take Portales for granted. Senior point guard Bud Willis scored 16 points and senior forward Justin Pinckney added 15 for the Wildcats, who rode a 13-0 first-half run to a 65-44 win over the Rams Tuesday at Rock Staubus […]

Eric Butler TEXICO — While Tuesday’s first day of the Eastern Plains Athletic Conference tournament may have been exciting for the tournament hosts, given that it was the first time for the event at one-year-old Texico Sports Arena, it was also an antsy day for the Texico boys basketball team. After spending the opening day […]

By Eric Butler TEXICO — Modest as they were, one team was going to have its winning streak snapped in Tuesday’s first round game of the EPAC boys tournament between Grady and Elida at the Texico Sports Arena. The teams have combined for three wins this season, but both took one-game winning streaks into the […]

By Eric Butler TEXICO — Grady was burned once by Floyd’s Corina Mendoza. They weren’t about to let it happen again. Mendoza hit six 3-pointers in their first meeting between the two teams, a 20-point Grady win. In the second go-round, Grady put the clamps on Floyd’s senior sharpshooter en route to a 74-49 win […]

By Kevin Wilson CLOVIS — It wasn’t the ideal way for the Portales Lady Rams to start a tournament — 9 a.m. in a cold Rock Staubus Gymnasium, against a junior varsity team. However, Portales had the type of finish they wanted, outscoring the host Lady Wildcats’ JV squad 46-17 over the final three quarters […]

Kevin Wilson Editor’s Note: This is the fifth in a series of 2003’s top 10 sports stories in the Portales News-Tribune. Stories No. 10 and No. 9 ran on Tuesday, while stories No. 8 and No. 7 ran on Wednesday. One story will follow in each issue until the top story on Jan. 1. Pilar […]

By Kevin Wilson FLOYD — The Floyd Lady Broncos earned a first-place trophy to remember the inaugural Floyd America Tournament, despite a fourth quarter they’d rather forget. The Lady Broncos put together a season-best, three-game winning streak at the Floyd America Tournament, holding off Springer 39-32 in Saturday’s final game at Floyd High School. Jewlie […]

Eric Butler RIO RANCHO — Part of the modus operandi for the Portales girls basketball team is its prowess from 3-point range. Showing another facet of its game, Portales didn’t hit a single trey in Thursday’s opening-round game of the Mel Otero Invitational but won anyway. Weathering the early hot shooting of Del Norte, the […]

Dave Wagner By Dave Wagner CNJ SPORTS WRITER dave_wagner@link.freedom.com BLACKWATER DRAW — Even doubling the opposition in total yardage couldn’t save the struggling Eastern New Mexico University football team. Four turnovers, including two which set up 10 second-quarter points, were too much to overcome for the Greyhounds as Southwestern Oklahoma escaped with a 17-14 Lone […]

By Kevin Wilson BLACKWATER DRAW — Veteran Greyhound football coach Bud Elliott admits his team’s offense is still shooting itself in the leg at times. Fortunately, they saved more than enough ammunition for East Central. The host Greyhounds scored early and often, rolling out 415 total yards of offense in a 32-2 blowout Saturday evening […]

Freedom Newspapers TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Quarterback Steven Hinson passed for two touchdowns and ran for a third as Eastern New Mexico University wore out Northeastern State University, 24-10, on Saturday in a Lone Star Conference Crossover game at Doc Wadley Stadium. About 3,500 fans watched as the Greyhounds ran their record to 3-0, while dropping […]

By Kevin Wilson For eight days, Portales Junior High School was a second home for the Floyd Broncos. For two games, it was a bad time to be playing against the Broncos. One week after routing Lazbuddie in their home opener/homecoming game, the Broncos handily beat Bethel Christian 56-6 in their home finale Saturday afternoon […]

PNT Staff BLACKWATER DRAW — Friday night’s football opener survived a rainstorm, and the Portales defense made sure it survived a challenge from West Las Vegas on an off-night for the Ram offense. Junior Tyler Rutherford had two of five interceptions for Portales, which earned a 19-7 win over the visiting Dons at Greyhound Stadium. […]